The Indian Navy rescued 20 people from a drifting vessel off the Mumbai coast early Monday after receiving a distress signal, an official said.

The vessel, Jindal Kamakshi, with 20 onboard, was 40 nautical miles from Mumbai harbour and 25 nautical miles off Vasai coast, and sent distress message around mid-night.

One Seaking helicopter was launched and a ship was also despatched to provide assistance.

With extremely bad weather conditions prevailing in and around Mumbai, at around 7.45 a.m. on Monday, the Seaking helicopter launched a mission to rescue the crew to INS Shikra, the naval base at Colaba.

"The sea is very rough and visibility is just one nautical mile," a navy spokesperson said.

The helicopter first rescued 19 crew members of the ship, and the Master of the ship, who had stayed back, was rescued later.

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The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the central government and the UP government on a PIL seeking CBI probe into the killing of journalist Jagendra Singh allegedly at the behest of UP minister Ram Murti Verma.

The apex court vacation bench headed by Justice M.Y. Eqbal issued notice on a PIL after senior counsel E.C. Agarwala urged the court to direct CBI probe and framing of guidelines for a fair and impartial investigation in such attacks.

The PIL petitioner one D.S. Jain urged the court to frame guidelines and issue directions that in the case of an unnatural death of a journalist the investigation should be monitered by the district and session judge of the area concerned.

Jagendra Singh was doused with kerosene oil and allegedly set on fire by the UP police. He succumbed to burn injuries on June 8.